dawho5

To me this was a great character match for the 3 guys besides Colon, who was just there as The Man. Kinda like when Misawa would stay out of the match until he was needed/Kawada was in there. Invader 3 takes most of the shine because Ayala won't stay in the same zipcode as Colon for very long. I love how when he's on offense he's so deliberate, but once he needs to get away he's lightning quick to get out of there. Invader 3 feeding Ayala back to Colon a few times was great and the crowd ate it up. Invader 3 playing FIP was so fucking good. Chicky Starr doing heel schtick was (as expected) a huge highlight. That opening sequence with him in the ring was about as good a start to any tag match I've ever seen. I've seen all the rave reviews about the Freebirds stalling match in WCW, but I enjoyed this just as much if not more.

Good start. The main storylines are good. I like how there is a slight heeling of Takada, but it's mostly on the level. I would have figured it'd be way more jingo-istic with Watts in charge.

I'm a Faces of Fear mark so I'll probably enjoy whatever it is.

I like how Chicky is more than willing to take a punch or two on the apron to get his man the advantage. That's commitment. The massive brawl going on outside the ring is overbooking at it's best with heels coming out and the faces they are feuding with stopping them from interfering.

I think you undersold that trash can that Carlos hit Abby with. It's one of those big, solid cylindrical trash cans and it was pretty sweet to see Abby backing away as Colon picked it up. You think Abby and Colon talked about shit like the match where Colon was "blinded" or the stabbing inside the mouth/raking the fork across the forehead stuff? Seems like it'd at least be nice to know that was coming and take some of the awful out of it.

There's not a lot going on here except Rich and Abby beating the shit out of each other and bleeding. So basically it's awesome. Apparently the match got called somewhere in there, but I'm not sure anybody cares. This is one of those matches where if you like the style of wrestling in PR, you'll love it. It's just instead of Colon brawling around with Abby it's Tommy Rich and somehow the crowd are almost as into it. Favorite moment was when Tommy was stumbling around the field being stabbed and comes across the camera cable he was choking Abby with before. So he grabs it and ha;lf clothesline/half chokes Abby to stop the offense coming his way. Awesome.

First things first, this looked nothing like Muta. The mannerisms looked half-assed too. So I am judging this match based on a not-really-Muta scale. Good enough from both, but they were keeping it slow and deliberate to disguise the obvious. TNT's 360 roundhouse kick somehow doesn't end up knocking not-Muta down long enough to cover, why? TNT selling during his comeback is actually really, really good. He's been taking lessons from Invader 1. They really went all-oout to make this "Muta" believable, moonsault and all, but I just don't buy it. Decent enough match for what it really is.

I am learning so much about Hot Topic and related stores around the country from this thread. PWO even teaches me about pop culture!

I'm going to pose a question. Did these two have a BAD stipulation match ever? Because even the sprinty ones (like this one) are still well worth your time and brutal as Hell. It actually kind of works in this match's favor that it isn't as long, because they really make sure the barbed wire is put to good use. Loved the finish and how it played off of the barbed wire.

El Profe is a manager right? So in PR, your managers (Chicky Starr, el Profe) are some of the more gifted heels in terms of mannerisms and how well they both stooge and work a face in peril. They both just get it. It's hard not to smile watching them go from full on can't get anything over on the babyface mode to antagonizing the poor bastard on the apron and using the ref as a third team member. I loved Profe dragging the ref to where if Perez had finished his move, the ref would have taken the shot instead of Profe. Perez is pretty awesome as a house afire here.

Chicky Starr gets removed from ringside (much to his and Ayala's dismay) at the behest of Invader 1. The little boxing part of the match was fun and I liked how they revisited it when Chicky came back out. The post-match with Invader 1 outsmarting both Chicky and Ayala only for Ron Starr to come out of the back and blast him into the ringpost was really, really good. Ayala was slow to take for me too. I can imagine him against another big man might not be as entertaining. He needs a guy to bring the energy to the match for it to be good. Ayala is definitely more of a deliberate wrestler and he really should be, given how much bigger he is than the other PR natives. It can be hard to appreciate that when you're used to seeing the frenetic brawls that most matches turn into.

Liger/Fuchi under catch rules would be amazing. I'm pretty sure anyone watching would be drooling for Liger to be able to hit Fuchi in under 5 minutes, but you're gonna have to wait until next match for that. The two final matches are both intriguing in their own way.

Yeah, Barb/Bossman would have been one Hell of a feud. I like Luger vs. Sawyer as an undercard match. Sawyer has enough credibility to make Luger look really good beating him.

The pantomiming in the ring post-match by both the babyfaces and heels was great. Fun southern tag for sure and my favorite bit was Ron Starr's little dance when he realizes he's about to hit Chicky Starr upon entering the ring and he does a quick turnaround to the apron. For a guy who is so good at doing the gritty, hard-nosed brawling, Ron can stooge with the best of em.

I'm not sure infinity stars is enough. But it will have to do. I mean, the shine, the heat, absolutely perfect. Nobody is missing a beat. Ron Starr's selling of low blows is phenomenal. Invader 2's punches are ridiculous good. Chicky Starr can't be in enough during the shine. Let's just let all 4 of em be in there? Pretty please. Invader 1 getting his ass kicked while his mask is on sideways is such a great little detail, and the crowd goes fucking bonkers when he rips it off. Ron Starr nails Invader 1 with a chair outside and all of his chairshots after are clearly pulled way more. I can't possibly describe to you the nature of Invader 1's blood loss post-match. It is...well, it depends on how you feel about blood. If you love when a match gets bloody, go watch this on youtube right now. I am all about wrestlers bleeding all over the place and I was wondering aloud (again) why they hadn't gotten Invader 1 medical attention. If you don't like blood, stay far away. The Starrs are killing everything that moves in the ring and thankfully leaving 1 alone. Invader 1 finally gets help and things get more gory. Trust me when I say you better like blood if you watch him get picked up and walked back. Invader 2 gets stretchered out and I officially love everyone involved in this match. It was my reason for going back to watching PR and it was actually better watching it the second time around. Edit: Pre-match is pretty amazing too. The Starrs complaining the Invaders have a third guy there only to menace Colon when he's alone outside the ring. Then back off when the Invaders come back down. Such a great cowardly heel thing to do.

I liked this match a LOT. Good brawling after a surprisingly great dropkick from Perez. Perez's punch/clothesline to the back of Muta's head off the ropes looked nasty from that camera angle. They both bust out some really good offense for nearfalls, but that Perez powerslam was incredible. I liked Perez taking advantage of early moves to go for the pin too. In a one fall hair vs. hair you should be looking for the win early and often.

I had one big quibble with this. The ref could not possibly keep all 3 babyfaces at bay, so Robert kept having to actually run himself into the guy during the distraction parts of the FIP. Doesn't work well in a 4 on 4. Hot finish though with Ricky Morton getting to come running into the ring after a hot tag, something you don't see every day.

I respect the attempt, even if I'm not a fan of the "meta booking" aspect of it. If the late 90s proved anything it's that competition breeds new ideas, good and bad. Vince could use some competition at some point, seems to bring out the best in him.

Muta was fine here, but it seemed like Invader was carrying most of the match to me. Muta didn't bring a lot that was really going to stand out from the rest of Invader's opponents, which is why I think this comes up short despite being good.

I loved how the crowd was reacting to the RnRs even in Puerto Rico. That's just awesome.

Dutch's comeback with the whip was all kinds of fun. Chicky Starr outside the ring egging Abby on after the DQ was almost as great as Abby continuing to choke Dutch out. It's crazy how much wrestlers can consistently get out of matches this short in Puerto Rico.

Dory actually did a nice bump later on in the match that reminded me of shit Terry did. Good start with a highly disappointing finish.

Imagine that. A match based around Invader's selling and blood loss is really good. Muta feels the need to top Invader's blade job, which also works in the match's favor.

Skinner is an interesting choice for Keirns. I'm waiting to figure out if I like it or not.

Ref bump did look pretty gnarly. One thing to add. The fans we see post-match had these little metal batons to hit the railing with and make noise. If I'm a heel and I know this, fuck going anywhere near the railing.